Nice solution HardwareGrrl. I came across a similar mod last year which used a small brass quick-disconnect fitting from an air hose slid onto a seat post/pin from below. It could be reached just behind the right side cover without removing the cover, but was out of view. A short bit of braided wire to the frame kept the fitting from disappearing while disconnected.

Not much going on here. I attempted a clutch swap, as in new perch and lever and switch but it didn't work out. Oh well the biggest reason was to go with a new switch. I've repaired the switch multiple times and was getting tired if it. BMW wants 104 for the switch, and I'm cheap. I had problems with the turn signals until I got a new internal switch from some if you guys. But the biggest gripe was the headlight switch. Sometimes it would work or not. I tried a bunch of different things to try and get it back but no luck. So I went ultimate Luddite.

A rotary switch!

Works a treat! But I'm anal, so I ordered a new switch anyway. This will be temporary.

Nice Will a layer of silicone spray serve to conduct electrons everywhere? Or will it keep them safely tucked away? Either way, its like a trade off. Waterproof grease on them will keep water off it, but keep every mother of every piece of dust for a hundred miles in every direction on it.

Nice Will a layer of silicone spray serve to conduct electrons everywhere? Or will it keep them safely tucked away? Either way, its like a trade off. Waterproof grease on them will keep water off it, but keep every mother of every piece of dust for a hundred miles in every direction on it.

Yeah....I know...... My problem was the springs and divots where the tiny ball bearing ride were wallowing out. And on my headlight switch the slot where the c clip holds it in place has spread. I just wore the shite out of it.

So....I guess it's about time I stopped clogging other peoples threads and just tell you how it is. And let's just start out with a BANG....here's what I've been doing.

I came to look for an R80ST in November of 2006. The Long way round boys got their hooks into me...I had forgotten about my dirtbike roots as that's where it all began. At the tender age of 12, my mom married a southern boy, southern boy takes us home to his mama in the country, new cousin has an XR80, rest is history.

I realized that my new job, MSF RC, was going to involve a lot of traveling and my R75 cafe was not going to be able to haul all my stuff and be comfy. I found the bike in the summer of '07...and this is how it looked.

The guy was in his late 70's, was a union electrician, and was running out of gas at the same spot in the middle of nowhere Nevada. This was his solution.

mark1305 now has the honor of owning this tank... I couldn't grip it and my knees were always hanging in the breeze.

So I got myself an HPN tank after nearly a year wait...and the bike began to morph. Here it is with Bgoodsoil's bike

I began to get better taking this big beast off road, and soon began exploring. Here we are on the Trans lab.

But I began exceeding some things on the bike. I began bending fork tubes, and it got pretty expensive. So I relented and took some advice from Bgoodsoil.....and it was rather frightening. I put a DR650 triple, wheel, and forks on the bike and had the shock rebuilt to match the R80G/S height.

It was a lot better, and the braking was pretty awesome compared to the stock caliper. But, I still felt like it was missing something....namely the stock steering. I began to do more single track stuff and missing the steering lock on the BMW triples....and the drawings for the HPMGuy triples to fit WP5060's were back up....and Guy was making a few new runs of the triple. I couldn't pass it up any longer.

I had help from Brad and Beater with this project, and had issues with head bearings shaking loose.....but have pretty much sorted it now.

I then began setting my sights on goals, namely life goals this past year. I'll be turning 40 on thanksgiving, and I didn't accomplish what I thought I would've by 40, namely motorcycle racing. I began poking stagehand about the rally stuff. He's been trying to get several of us onboard....and I believed it was my time. So I've raced 2 rallys this year. RAlly West Virgina, and Black River Stages. So, I still only have the ST and want to be able to race it, teach off of it, and travel with it....and so far so good. Had a few issues but nothing I couldn't repair.

...thank god no one was driving or walking by when my left spark plug decided to take off. And man, that was a loud ass BANG!!!

That thing shot so far I couldn't find it......I hopped off the bike and instantly started laughing. I knew this was going to happen as the threads have been cross threaded for a while now. I collected all the parts to take the head off and do the pushrod tube seals at the same time. I got lucky and found a Helicoil branded repair kit for around 40$ at General hardware.....the price tag had to be from the 80's. I laughed because 9 years earlier, I broke down on my first airhead, a '70 75/5.....on the other side of the street heading the other way. It resulted in a trailer ride home.

I got on the horn and Mike was soon on his way. I pushed the bike up the hill and off of Whitefoord...got more in the shade and out of the way. He rolled up on the KLR, and I hopped on as he stayed with my bike. At home I hooked up the trailer, ditched my motocross boots as I can't drive in them, and put the KLR on the trailer. Swaparoo of bikes and I'm on my way home to tear into the head.

In 10 minutes I had it torn apart and had to leave to meet a friend I'd not seen in 5 months.......

Hard to see I know, but there was NO threads left to tell the tale.

After I figured out how to bear hug the jug , I went to work.

Resting my head....

Folks, I know it's been said that this is possible to do without removing the head. But after careful inspection of the inside of the jug, I will never do it with the head on. Using the grease is great to keep the chips on the tap, but they also collect at the top of the tap. And with the grease acting as a glue, it's difficult to suck or blow them out of the jug, as I noticed they had collected around the rim of the spark hole. Almost like a mushroom effect......yikes!

Piston ring bit me....

Result! Although I stupidly did not have any high temp RTV and used red loctitie 300f, it did the job and I was able to ride to work in the morning.

The scope creep continued, and I was soon ordering ss brake lines for my car. I noticed a spongy pedal and found my rubber lines had swallowed an egg. This bike has taught me so much, as though it screamed " take me apart and figure out how to fix me".....I'll attack just about anything mechanical and even electrical.